Beach has fresh sand, but it may not last long

Remember how stripped San Clemente's beaches looked all summer, appearing more like a rock quarry than a playground of soft sand?

Well, it's November, and in large part, at least one prominent stretch of beach is back.

In the past three weeks, an influx of soft sand has pushed onshore, covering virtually all the cobblestone between Linda Lane Beach and south of T-Street Beach, the most populated of San Clemente's beaches.

Enjoy it while you can. Winter is on the way, and historically, winter storms strip the beaches of sand.

“I assume the gravel is still there,” San Clemente Marine Safety Chief Bill Humphreys said Tuesday when asked where all the cobble went. “It's probably down 3 or 4 feet. It's a large volume of sand that has come in, and it should provide us with a little extra buffer going into the winter months.”

One popular San Clemente beach did not benefit: North Beach still is covered largely with cobble.

Humphreys said that's probably because the south swells that have suddenly replenished the beaches from T-Street to Linda Lane by pushing in sand from the south ran up against an obstacle – Mariposa Point – and the sand didn't make it around to North Beach.

“Sand will generally build up on the side of a point that faces the swell direction,” Humphreys said. “The back side of a point or a jetty or groin will typically erode. More sand accumulated on this side of Mariposa Point.”

Humphreys estimated the sand level has risen 3 to 4 feet in front of Marine Safety headquarters and on the north side of the pier in recent weeks. “It's a high-quality sand, real fine, no gravel,” he said. “It's a shame it didn't come in time for summer.”

San Clemente's sand beaches have progressively gotten skimpier in the past 30 years, starting with a 1983 El Niño winter storm.

“We generally accumulate sand with the (summer) south swells,” Humphreys said. “This year the south swells came back a little late. Generally we lose sand with the winter storms – the harsh angles – and we gain some of it back in the summer. Typically there's a net loss.”

The imbalance is believed to stem from reductions in the supply of sediment coming out of San Juan Creek to resupply the area's beaches. It hasn't kept up with erosion.

Bill Hart, chairman of San Clemente's Coastal Advisory Committee, said development in the San Juan Creek watershed means less sediment entering the creek, which, in turn, sends less sand out the mouth of the creek at Dana Point to migrate south into San Clemente.

In San Clemente, the erosion is accelerated by large rocks – known as riprap, installed along the coastal rail corridor to protect the railroad tracks – as surf bounces off the rocks. “The eventual solution,” Hart said, “is either sand replenishment or the entire rail corridor will be lined with riprap.”

The sand that has appeared in recent weeks is a temporary influx, Hart said. “The long-term impacts are pretty apparent,” he said. “The winter is coming. The sand comes and goes on short cycles. It's the long term you've got to look at. The trend is unmistakable.”

HELP FOR BEACH?

In 2001, the Army Corps of Engineers and the city launched a feasibility study for restoring the beaches, in part because worsening erosion could threaten the rail corridor, which is in the national interest. The study has been completed and the corps has approved a project to send to Congress for possible funding.

The $11 million plan – with the feds paying $7.3 million and the city responsible for $3.9 million – would replenish the city's eroded beach between Linda Lane and south of T-Street with 250,000 cubic yards of fresh sand a couple of years from now, depending on when funds become available and monitoring is set up. It could lead to 50 years of repeated replenishments, as needed, every six years or so. The project will be sent to Congress for possible funding in the next Water Resources Development Act, a bill Congress could consider next year.

CHALLENGE AHEAD

Tom Bonigut, San Clemente's assistant city engineer, said the project could make it into the water-resources bill without ever being funded. It would take a separate step to allocate the money in an upcoming federal budget. There could be a hitch.

The city's project is rated as yielding $1.10 for every $1 spent in terms of benefits such as reducing storm damage, improving recreational resources and boosting tourism, Bonigut said. It's a positive benefit-cost ratio, he said, but the Office of Management and Budget typically requires a $2.50 to $1 benefit-cost ratio.

“This is not just an issue for San Clemente but other potential beach-nourishment projects, so there likely will be an effort by California Coastal Coalition and others to propose language into WRDA that would allow projects with a BCR of 1.1 or higher,” Bonigut said. “Our federal lobbyist is working on this, and the city has submitted letters of support to our two senators in anticipation of work on a WRDA bill next year.”

Hart said he is optimistic. “The federal government seems to be interested in helping us out,” he said. “I think we've got enough clout to get this through Congress, if we have the will ourselves.”

Hart said the project is predicated on rebuilding the beach while doing no harm to shoreline biological resources or the surf break at T-Street Beach.

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